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Neiman Marcus adds $65,000 Fiat 600 Jolly look-alike to Fantasy Gifts collection

Neiman Marcus recently released its Fantasy Gifts collection - a part of its Christmas catalog - that includes his and hers Island Cars featuring bespoke touches by Lilly Pulitzer. The vehicles are customized versions of the Island Car built by Island Car Limited in West Palm Beach, FL. The compact beach machines are manufactured to look like the Fiat 600 Jollys that were made in 1959 and from 1961 to 1964. The new ones cost $65,000 each. Neiman Marcus' Island Cars comes with signature Lilly Pulitzer prints, towels, tote bags, swim trucks for him, as well as a caftan (a long, loose dress) for her. Other than these extras, the beach-oriented cars share a lot of the same components as the ones built by Island Car Limited. The vehicles are built off a composite construction and compared to an original Jolly are lower, wider, and have more storage space. The Island Cars are powered by the company's own electric motors and lightweight batteries. Island Car Limited doesn't say what kind of range or batteries the compacts have, so we're assuming the vehicles are Neighborhood Electric Vehicles. While $65,000 is a lot of money for an electric vehicle that doesn't have doors, Hagerty values the average price of a 1964 600 Jolly at $44,400. Looking for something more powerful from the Neiman Marcus catalogue? There's always the Infiniti Q60 Red Sport. Related Video: News Source: Neiman MarcusImage Credit: Neiman Marcus Celebrities Design/Style Green Fiat Coupe Electric Special and Limited Editions neiman marcus neiman marcus christmas book

At meeting with automakers, Trump launches new attack on NAFTA

WASHINGTON — Ten American and foreign automakers went to the White House on Friday to push for a weakening of U.S. fuel efficiency standards through 2025, while President Donald Trump used the occasion to launch a fresh attack on the North American Free Trade Agreement that has benefited the companies. A draft proposal circulated by the U.S. Transportation Department would freeze fuel efficiency requirements at 2020 levels through 2026, rather than allowing them to increase as previously planned. Trump's administration is expected to formally unveil the proposal later this month or in June. "We're working on CAFE standards, environmental controls," Trump told reporters at the top of the meeting, referring to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for cars and light trucks in the United States. Trump said he wants automakers to build more vehicles in the United States and export more vehicles. But much of the hour-long meeting focused on NAFTA. Trump blasted the pact involving the United States, Canada and Mexico as "terrible" and noted that negotiations to make changes sought by his administration were ongoing. "NAFTA has been a horrible, horrible disaster for this country and we'll see if we can make it reasonable," Trump said. Automakers have called NAFTA a success, allowing them to integrate production throughout North America and make production competitive with Asia and Europe, and have noted the increase in auto production over the past two decades with the deal in place. They have warned that changing NAFTA too much could prompt some companies to move production out of the United States. The chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co, Fiat Chrysler, along with senior U.S. executives from Toyota Motor Corp, Volkswagen AG, Hyundai Motor Co, Nissan Motor Co, Honda Motor Co , BMW AG and Daimler AG met with Trump, as did the chief executives of two auto trade groups. Major automakers reiterated this week they do not support freezing fuel efficiency requirements but said they want new flexibility and rule changes to address lower gasoline prices and the shift in U.S. consumer preferences to bigger, less fuel-efficient vehicles.

Marchionne to make Alfa Romeo a separate company within Fiat

According to a report in Automotive News that quotes "people familiar with the matter," the next big play in Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's plan for Alfa Romeo is to break it off from Fiat Group Automobiles and set it up as a separate company within the Fiat empire, giving it the same structure as Ferrari and Maserati. The idea, say the sources, is that a transparent, standalone Alfa Romeo that has to justify its every move could clearly prove its success in the public financial statements it would have to report, finally achieving Marchionne's aim of making Alfa Romeo "a credible business proposition."
That, of course, assumes that Alfa Romeo will make a success of it. The brand hasn't made a profit in any year of Marchionne's decade at the helm; sales last year fell to numbers not seen in almost half a century and its new product offensive might not include the two vehicles currently responsible for 99 percent of its sales. We're told that the brand's six new models will begin arriving in 2016 - a roadster, a midsize sedan and large sedan, a compact SUV and large SUV, and a large coupe.
Marchionne aims to expand Alfa's global appeal in several ways, the first by stressing that they are Italian products that 'belong' to Italy. This is the stance that appears to have put the kibosh on the roadster twinned with the coming Mazda MX-5/Miata. Alfa Romeos will all be made in their home country, and if they take off they'll help bandage Fiat's problem with underused plant capacity, a bugbear that is just as problematic culturally and politically as financially. Top-tier trims would use V6 engines developed by Ferrari, and global access would get a boost by selling Alfa Romeos in Jeep's 1,700 international dealerships.